Publication Account
Date 2007
Event ID 587220
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/587220
NM04 2 DUN IBRIG
NM/026444
This possible ground-galleried broch or ‘galleried dun’ on Tiree stands on a low, flat-topped mound in low ground, now rough pasture-land; although markedly oval in shape it contains traces of a presumably ground-level intramural gallery (visited 8/62). The Commission classed it as a dun [3] but there is no reason to deny the site the status of a badly ruined broch; oval and sub-circular brochs are known in a much better state of preservation (e.g. Dun Torcuill, NF87 4). The surrounding ground is supposed to have been a marsh not long ago [2] (“Turnbull’s map of Tiree 1768-9 (Cregeen, Estate Instructions and map) shows areas of standing water to the west and south-east.” (RCAHMS 1980, 110, f.n. 2.)) so the site may not always have been as defenceless as it looks now; it might have been built on an islet in a shallow loch.
The building measures about 20.4m by 16m overall and some of the facing stones of the outer face can be seen, though no inner ones except at the entrance on the east-south-east. Here the wall is about 3.5m thick. A short length of intramural gallery can be traced on the north side and the presence of a depression to the right of the entrance suggests that there is a guard chamber here. There is a secondary oval enclosure on top of the rubble in the interior, though its age is uncertain [3]. An outer stone wall runs round the site at the foot of the knoll.
Sources: 1. NMRS site no. NM 04 SW 1: 2. Beveridge 1903, 112-14: 3. RCAHMS 1980, 110-11, no. 210 and fig. 128.
E W MacKie 2007
